Death and Strawberry
by StrawberriesAndCinnamonJAM
Summary: "Rukia." It was Rukia. It couldn't be, it shouldn't be. But it was. Ichigo/Rukia. Two-shot.
1. Chapter 1: Death and Strawberry

**A/N: Well, I couldn't help but post this, not after reading the awesomeness of chapter 459. **

**I mean, Rukia's finally a freakin' lieutenant. I knew she was just as good as Renji. :D **

**Oh, and for those of your waiting for another chapter of Timeless, and are mad because I posted this instead, the next chapter is almost done. Plus, it'll be about 8,000 words, which it longer then the last ones. **

**Anyways, here it is:**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. **

"Rukia."

_Rukia._

It was Rukia.

It couldn't be. It _shouldn't _be.

But it was.

And even though it was _her _sword that stabbed through his chest, the wound suddenly didn't hurt anymore. Because it was _her_.

He knew, without having to question, without worry that she was not against him. She was on his side. With that smile, no _smirk,_ on her face, there was no way she was working for them. Not with that knowing look in her eyes.

He trusted her. More then he trusted his own arm.

And he believed in her.

She looked different, he could see at a second glance. Fingerless, mid-forearm length, gloves that looked strangely like her brothers, shorter hair that tickled gently around her neck, and what looks like a _lieutenants badge_.

He smirked.

_So, her brother finally gave up on trying to hold her down._

Good.

Rukia deserved better.

Despite the overall difference in appearance, she was the same.

The same old Rukia.

He could see it in her lavender eyes.

Time flied by in an instance, and he felt _it._ The power he had missed so much. The warm grasp of _his _sword in his hands. It was back. All of it. And there was no doubt that he had Rukia to thank for that. It was rushing through him, as quickly and rough as rapids.

It wasn't Rukia's power, like last time. She held a sword in her hand that wasn't hers. Her own, was sealed by her side.

This white, misty sword must be another crazy contraption of Urahara's.

The irony almost made him laugh.

Here he'd gone whining and moping about the loss of his powers, and then went so far as unintentionally joining the _villains _side, when Urahara had this thing up his sleeve the entire time.

They were probably trying to teach him a lesson, or something.

It didn't matter, though.

His power was in him.

He was never going to let it go again.

He looked back at Rukia, the cocky smirk he hadn't used in a while, back on his face. She was staring at him, simply smiling, but with an expression that clearly said 'you fool'.

He'd missed those two words coming from her mouth.

He'd missed her voice.

"Rukia."

"Ichigo." She paused. "What's the matter, your new sword to heavy for you? Are you going to fight or not?"

He turned back, his smirk escalating so his teeth were showing, but not before her heard those two little words, whispered under her breath.

"You fool."

If he was in trouble, she would draw her sword. When she was in trouble, he would draw his sword. That's how it'd always been.

That's how it would always be.

From now on.

He would never miss her again. Because she would never leave again.

From now on.

The Rukia he had missed, the Rukia he had said goodbye to, _his _Rukia, was back

And now, he could do anything.

**A/N: So, review, or I'll kill you with Zangetsu. :D… Wait, Zangetsu doesn't **_**want **_**to kill the readers? Damn you Zangetsu!**

**Well, review anyways. **

**Please? :) **


	2. Chapter 2: Strawberry and Death

**A/N: Well, my muse was being rude and wouldn't leave me alone, so I popped out another chapter. And this is actually the last one this time. **

**Hope you enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. Well, I do own a bottle of it, but…**

Ichigo.

She could both sense him, and see him.

His reiatsu, a fluctuating flame, small compared to the blaze it used to be. His hair, in stark contrast to his dark clothes, was a beacon in the indiscernible dark of the night.

He was upset, trembling with distraught, because he'd lost. Everything he'd strived for was a trick. He thought he'd never get back what was stolen from him.

The strange wispy sword she had been given was protruding from his back. There was no wound, because the thing was coated in my own reiatsu. I would never, _never _hurt Ichigo.

He was looking right through her. He thought he'd been betrayed.

The fool.

He couldn't quite see her yet. He was still blind. She was still invisible.

She had worked so hard. To get this badge, to get everything she had.

But it was incomplete.

Right until the moment when their eyes met.

Amber on amethyst, and amethyst on amber.

He hadn't changed at all, unlike me. Same scraggly orange hair; if shorter. Same furrowed eyebrows.

She missed him.

She had missed the big idiotic fool she'd come to know him as.

He was completely inconspicuous, sending a hurricane of dust and debris flying about him. That just who he was. No doubt his logic was 'why hide when I can blast my way through walls and people alike'.

"Rukia."

He said her name the same way he was did. With awe, with surprise, like he'd expected her to go away and never come back.

Hadn't he learnt from experience that she would always come back?

"Ichigo. What's the matter, your new sword too heavy for you? Are you gonna fight or not?" She had coaxed that cocky smirk back out of him, and he turned away. I didn't give him a chance to miss my next two words.

"You fool."

She had to say that. Why wouldn't she? After all, she'd been called him a fool since the beginning and since it was only the middle, she would still call him that.

Beside, that's what he was.

She couldn't see his face, but she knew she had him grinning. No doubt he was waiting for her to say that.

It was tradition.

She never broke tradition.

Including the tradition of always coming back to _him_.

**Yay! I'm pleased with the chapter, personally. Review or… I'm going to sic Kenpachi on you! That's right, Kenpachi! O.O Kenpachi doesn't **_**want **_**to? Well, screw you Kenpachi! **

**Please review! :)**


End file.
